"GOOD FRIDAY - The Triumphal Entry"

This program is brought to you in part by the partners and friends of Creflo Dollar Ministries. Coming up next on Changing Your World. Because of sin, there was enmity between man and God. And there needed somehow to be a reconciling of that. And so Jesus says that this just didn't happen for free.

Somebody's got to pay for this to happen. If we're going to have the removal of God's wrath, a propitiation has got to take place. He says, "I will be that payment." A propitiation is not simply a sacrifice that removes wrath, but it is a sacrifice >> ((music playing)) >> that removes wrath and then turns the wrath into favor.

Download and stay connected with the Changing Your World podcast with Creflo Dollar. Keep the word of God at the forefront of your minds with these powerful and uplifting messages. With each message that you download and stream, you gain revelation of the fullness of God's grace. The Changing Your World podcast brings you life-changing wisdom right at your fingertips, no matter where you are.

Subscribe today on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform. This is your world. So, let us vow to make it ((music playing)) a better place. Let every heart that meets you know your love is here to stay. Oh, it's time we live a new life. Let the sunshine bright in you.

We sleep by ((music playing)) His grace, so we embrace your love today. We are changed. [singing] This morning I want to talk to you about, and I call this the triumphal entry. The triumphal entry. Palm Sunday is a significant day in the Christian calendar as it marks the beginning of Holy Week leading up to Easter Sunday.

It is a day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. And the people waved palm branches and laid them on the ground shouting, "Hosanna to the son of David." Again, you read this in Matthew 21 and verse 9. It says, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest." So, as we reflect on this event, we remember the significance of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. It was a fulfillment of prophecy as it was foretold in Zechariah chapter 9 and 9. In fact, let's look there cuz it's important. Every time you hear that something was prophesied in the Old Testament and then you see it prophesied or come to pass in the New Testament, that's a big deal.

In verse 9 says, "Rejoice, all people of Zion. Shout in triumph, all people of Jerusalem. Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous, watch this, and he is victorious. He says, "Yet he is humble, riding on a donkey, riding on a donkey's colt." So, the prophecy was fulfilled as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, which by the way was a symbol of peace and humility rather than showing up on a horse, which would be the symbol of war and conquest.

So, this was a clear message that Jesus' mission was not to conquer by force, but to bring peace and salvation to all who would believe in him. And so the people who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem recognized him as the Messiah and as the son of David who had come to save them.

They waved palm branches, which were a symbol of victory and triumph, waving those palm branches. And they laid them on the ground as a sign of submission and honor. So, this was a public declaration of their faith in Jesus as the king who had come to rescue them from oppression of the Roman Empire.

Uh So, they thought this Jesus who was raising the dead and this Jesus who was doing miracles, man, they were celebrating him, but they thought he is now coming to Jerusalem to deliver us from the oppression of the Roman Empire. They thought he was coming as a politician.

However, the people's enthusiasm soon turned to disappointment and even hostility when the Jews did not meet when excuse me, when Jesus didn't meet the expectation of of a political ruler who would overthrow the Roman Empire. Instead, Jesus came to offer spiritual salvation and eternal life, which was a message that many in that day found to be very difficult to to accept.

Now, how does this tie into the reality of this covenant of grace that we live under? The Christ, the king. You see, the palm branch represented, like I said, goodness and victory. And it was a symbol of the final victory that he would soon come to fulfill, victory over death.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 55, "Oh death, where is your sting? Oh Oh grave, where is your victory?" Let me read it. It's one of them. Well, he says, "Oh death, where is your your victory? Oh Oh death, where is your sting?" He's going to have victory over death.

Now, as I'm looking at this in in in in verse 55, I'm thinking I'm thinking about somebody here today that might ask, "And what does that have to do with me?" We say we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate Easter, we celebrate Palm Sunday, but what does that have to do with me?

How is it that the death of Jesus Christ benefits me one iota? And that's what I want to spend my time with today. I want to talk about the things that Christ accomplished by his death. What was accomplished by his death? He's walking and entering into Jerusalem. And the very next week, he's going to be operating in resurrection power.

He's coming in the in the place to die. And he's going to set them free in ways that they would never be able to imagine. How many of y'all you can live in the midst of darkness and have light going on in your life? And there's some crazy things going on in the world, but you got to remember what Jesus has done for you so that in the midst of all of the stuff that has been prophesied to happen and we can't cast our prophecy that we are not going to be troubled.

In fact, the Bible says, "See to it that you be not troubled." These things must come to pass. And I pray today that you will begin to rejoice as you recognize that through the death of Jesus, there were things that he did for us. He died for you.

He died for me. And it was not just talking about he died. We need to now answer that question. So, what is it that the death of Jesus accomplished for my behalf? Number one, Jesus' death removed our sin and our guilt. This is called in Bible school expiation.

Expiation is just simply the removal of sin and guilt. So, he didn't come just to remove sin, he came to remove the guilt associated with sin, the shame associated with sin, and the condemnation associated with sin. Now, people religiously with a religious ear, they've heard this. Well, what do we celebrate?

Well, we're celebrating, you know, Jesus came and he died for me. Well, what did he mean? He died for my sins. Well, what does that mean? I get so irritated when I hear stuff talked about religiously and there's no in-depth relational understanding of what he really did. So, he died to remove our sin and our guilt.

Let's go to John and all this in NLT. Go to John chapter 1 and 29. Let's decide this disciple these scriptures here. John 1:29 says, "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him." And here's what John said. He said, "Look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

Through death he's taking he's dealing with the sin of the whole world. So what Jesus did, he did for every human being that would ever be born on the earth that if you believe it and accept it and sign for the package then you walk in the benefit of your deliverance of sin, guilt, shame, and condemnation.

And that's our job as Christians right now. We ought to have a soul-winning mentality. Instead of a judgmental mentality, a soul-winning mentality. Well, we can go in and when somebody is not saved, your antennas go up, man. You're ready to go at it, man. Somehow, some way I'm going to say something.

I'm going to sow some seeds. I'm going to water it, but I'm going to say something. God's going to give the increase. I can't make them get saved, but I can sow plant some stuff. Somebody says, "Well, what am I going to plant?" Well, look at your own life.

A lot of stuff we go through, when you go through it and come out, that's good testimony to sow into somebody else's life. That's a good way TO GO TO SOMEBODY AND SAY, "I have seen this movie that you're starring in, and I know exactly how it ends."

Listen to me. And so he he he came as the lamb of God to take away the sin of the whole world through death. Look at Isaiah 53 and 6. Isaiah 53 and 6. I pray that if you're not born again today, this is your day. That somehow the Holy Spirit sent you here because he's trying to get something to happen in your life that's going to make the difference in your whole life.

Isaiah 53 and verse 6 says, "All of us like sheep have strayed away. We have left God's path to follow our own. We've left God's path to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the Lord laid on him the sins of all of us. So my sins, your sins, and the sins of the whole world have been laid on Jesus Christ.

Think of that. He took all of our sins. All of our sins were laid on Jesus Christ. My goodness. Who does that? Who does that? The greatest friend YOU HAVE IN THE WORLD. I DON'T KNOW IF HE'D DO THIS. He took all of our sins and laid it on Jesus.

Now watch this. Hebrews chapter 9. Verse 25 through 26. The sins of the world laid on his body. Laid on his body. He who had never sinned hanging on a cross looked like the snake. Looked like sin. But he had never sinned. He looked that way because he took all of our sins all of our sins upon himself.

And he did this verse this verse 25 and 26. And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again like the high priest here on the earth who enter into the most holy place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again ever since the world began.

But now once for all time he has peered he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice. My God, this ain't never going to get boring to me. If you're religious, it gets boring to you. Amen. Oh, I know that, but it I cannot fathom in my mind how one man could show up and say, "Hey Dad, I'll take everybody's sin upon myself.

I was born to die." Wow. Jesus did that. SO ONE OF THE things we see that through his death he removed our sin, our guilt, dealt with our condemnation, dealt with our shame. And he's waiting for you to accept it. He's waiting for you to sign for the package.

It's one thing that he did it. It's another thing that you believe it and accept it. And my question today is will you receive Jesus? Will you accept what he did? Will you accept this loving kindness to take the sin of the whole world, to sign the package, and to say, "Your freedom is at hand, but your signature is required."

Here's the second thing that was accomplished through his death. Propitiation. Whereas expiation is the removal of our sins. Propitiation is the removal of God's wrath. Propitiation means compensation or payment or peace offering. Compensation or payment or peace offering. Jesus became the compensation. He became the payment. He became the peace offering that was necessary for the wrath of God to be removed.

Because of sin, there was enmity between man and God. And there needed somehow to be a reconciling of that. And so Jesus says that this just didn't happen for free. Somebody's got to pay for this to happen. If we're going to have the removal of God's wrath a propitiation's got to take place.

He says, "I will be that payment." A propitiation is not simply a sacrifice that removes wrath, but it is a sacrifice that removes wrath and then turns the wrath into favor. Jesus became a compensation to remove the wrath between God and man and then took the wrath that God had against man and turned it into favor.

AND SO THAT SO THAT HIS LOVE NOW HIS LOVE CAN NOW realize its purpose in doing good to us every day in all things forever without sacrificing HIS JUSTICE AND WITHOUT SACRIFICING his holiness. Jesus paid the PRICE AND SO NOW GOD SAYS, "NO RESTRICTIONS ON MY LOVE. NO MORE ENEMY BETWEEN me and man.

I will do him good and make him happy." Lord have mercy. The third thing that was accomplished by his death. Reconciliation. So there was a removal of wrath, the removal of sin, reconciliation revolves the removal of our alienation from God. We were alienated from God. Romans chapter Well, hold on a minute.

I I I rushed through propitiation. Let's back up there a little bit. That was too big, man. Look at Romans 3:25 and 26 in the NLT. I think you you you need some scripture on that so you can go and meditate. Did that really happen? Yeah. 25 and 26.

For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life. How many of you believe that Jesus sacrificed his life for you? He said, "Shedding his blood, this sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past.

For he was looking ahead. The reason why he didn't punish all of all of the ones he could have punished in time past cuz he was looking ahead. And including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness for he himself is fair and just and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

When they believe in Jesus. And then in Hebrews chapter 2:17. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 17. He says, "Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us. It was necessary for Jesus to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and his sisters.

Why? So that he could be our merciful and faithful high priest before God. He had to be made like us so he can show some mercy. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Knowing us, knowing how man was, he could be he could become that sacrifice to take away those sins.

And then in 1 John 4 and 10. 1 John 4 and 10. Ooh, Jesus. Just reading the word getting me stirred up this morning. He said, "This is real love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us. And watch what he did. And then he sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

This is real love. Not that we love God. See, in the church, it's always about how much you love God. You're always talking about how much you love God. And and I guess I believe you, but I know for a fact that you can't love God until you first of all believe the love that he has for you.

Oh, I love God. Don't you love God? >> [laughter] >> No, the question is do you believe that God loves you? Okay. He says, "Here's the love though. But that he loved us, and look what he did. He sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

That's that love. Amen. Think about this, ladies and gentlemen. I I am I I I I'm I'm going I'm going line by line. I'm showing you scripture by scripture. You know the world's coming to an end, especially when you see Bible prophecy come to pass. China and Russia.

When you see the Bible talks about the waves moving and being beat, weather. When you see all the things that are striking up and and taking place in the Middle East right now. Honey, there's wars going on that they hadn't had time to put on ABC. In fact, stuff going on everywhere.

And if you can't if you don't Listen, Jesus is He's coming back just like he said he would. Well, I don't believe it. That's fine. Sit there, Bubba. When he comes, you going to be the You going to have the biggest SURPRISE OF YOUR LIFE. YOU KNOW, WHEN Jesus was coming on Palm on that Palm Sunday, when he was coming through, nobody knew that was going to be THE LAST WEEK.

WONDER WHAT WONDER WHAT WOULD HAVE THE DISCIPLES HAVE done had they known, "This is our last week with him like this." Our last week with him like this. What And see, I'm I'm asking you the same thing. WELL, HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT THIS THIS MIGHT NOT THIS MIGHT BE YOUR LAST WEEK.

NOW, IT'S IT'S NOT BECAUSE THE BIBLE says no man knows the day or the hour. So, don't make me a prophet because no man knows the day or the hour. I can't tell you this is your last week. Well, maybe you can. No, I can't. Well, the Lord told me last night that he coming on the 7th.

He ain't coming on the 7th. You had some You had some collard greens or something before you went to bed. That ain't happening. >> [laughter] >> He's coming back, dude. He's coming back. And there people that hear that the earth is just so filled with unbelief. This society in this generation, they don't believe nothing.

And then when it's too late, and then when it happens, uh-oh. Come on. Receive the love of God. Receive what he wants to do for you. Receive what he's done for you. Receive him. Now it's time to believe, praise God. Now it's time for you to just shut off all of the other opinions that you are hearing, >> ((music playing)) >> and just look at this word and pay attention to your heart.

Pay attention to the conviction in your heart. There's something about your heart that knows what it knows, praise God. There's something about your heart that knows when something is right. There's something about your heart that knows when something is wrong. And I'm telling you just by nature, something on the inside knows that something's happening.

Something's coming. If you feel like you need to perform to be accepted, or like you're always falling short, that's not grace. Grace doesn't apply pressure. Grace gives power. That's why Creflo Dollar wants to place something in your hands that makes grace practical right where life is happening. Today's offer is the Practical Living Bundle, Creflo Dollar's brand new book, The Practical Side of Grace, together with the six-message ((music playing)) series, Understanding Your True Identity.

Resources designed to help you see yourself the way God sees you. Loved, righteous, and already approved. As a special thank you, you'll also receive an exclusive Grace Gang T-shirt, a reminder that you're part of a community walking in grace together. This exclusive bundle is yours today for your love gift of 80 US dollars or more.

Order now by visiting creflodollarministries.org and clicking e-store, scanning ((music playing)) the QR code, or calling the number on your screen, and start living grace practically every day. It's so great to have Dr. Dollar here, the Spirit & Grace Tour ((music playing)) and the Grace Gang in town. >> Just about everybody that gave their testimony, I'm asking questions and getting answers.

I was getting some of the answers I ((music playing)) needed. It was like an atmosphere of freedom. I would encourage people to come. The Spirit & Grace Tour with Creflo ((music playing)) Dollar is coming to a city near you. Only 500 seats, and they are going fast. Register now at spiritandgracetour.com. ((music playing)) What unifies the body of Christ?

It's our identity. Our identity is found in Christ, and you will learn about all the benefits of this in the four-part series, The Triumphal Entry, taught by Creflo Dollar. Jesus' death removed our sin and our guilt. Jesus became a compensation to remove the wrath between God and man, and turned it into favor.

Jesus paid the price, AND SO NOW GOD SAID, "No restrictions on my love. No more enemy between me and man. I will do him good and make him happy." Order your series today for a love gift ((music playing)) of just 25 US dollars or more. Scan the QR code, call the number on your screen, or visit creflodollar.org and ((music playing)) request your copy.

Discover your identity in Christ today. I think you would be amazed at what Creflo Dollar Ministries ((music playing)) does every day around the world. Testimonies come in from all over about the impact we have. And I wish you could see the kids we feed. Their lives are changed and impacted for the better because of you, our givers.

The seeds you sow into this ministry make a mark that that can never be erased. ((music playing)) And I want to thank you so much for your financial contributions into the kingdom of God and into this ministry. If God has placed it on your heart to support the vision of this ministry to reach the world with the gospel of grace, you may call in to make your financial donations, or log on to creflodollarministries.org.

God bless you. Salvation is the beginning of a new ((music playing)) life for a believer. It is from this point that we can move into the fullness of who God has called ((music playing)) us to be and see the manifestation of the finished works of Jesus. It is one of my greatest ((music playing)) pleasures to help people to understand who Christ is and to lead people to Christ.

If you would like salvation ((music playing)) today, pray this prayer with me. Very simple prayer. Heavenly Father, I believe in ((music playing)) Jesus. I believe that he died, that he rose again, and that he lives ((music playing)) today. Come into my life. Save me. I receive you as ((music playing)) my savior. In Jesus' name, amen.

Listen, if you prayed that prayer with me, that's how simple it is. Welcome to the family ((music playing)) of God. Because of you, Creflo Dollar Ministries is providing a new understanding of grace and empowering change in the lives of millions of people every day. Thank you, partners and friends. Your love and financial support makes it possible to bring this message into millions of homes all across the globe.

The preceding program was brought to you in part by the partners and friends of Creflo Dollar Ministries.